Last Saturday, Greg McMullen made another unofficial visit to Ohio State.

The 6-foot-5, 255-pound junior defensive end from Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio got the chance to check out the Buckeyes in their 38-14 come from behind victory over Penn State.

But, more importantly, McMullen had the chance to get some advice from Ohio State's coaching staff.

"I talked to coach (Jim) Bollman, coach (Jim) Heaacock and coach (Jim) Tressel a little bit," McMullen said. "I asked them what they thought about me playing basketball this year. They said there's nothing wrong with playing hoops. Sometimes staying in the weight room can hurt your speed so they said playing basketball is fine as long as I do some weight training too."

With that advice, McMullen began working out with the Hoban basketball team and plans to work out three or four times per week to keep up his strength for his future in college football.

McMullen said the atmosphere at Ohio Stadium during Saturday's win didn't disappoint.

"It was great, as usual," he said. "It was a pretty hostile Buckeye crowd; very supportive. It was a good experience again."

Despite his strong feelings for Ohio State, McMullen said he isn't ready to end the recruiting process.

"There are still some things I need to know, some questions that need to be asked," he said. "There are certain things I want to see before I make a decision on where I want to go and play football."

McMullen said he already has strong relationships with the Ohio State coaching staff, but he wants to learn more about the academics at Ohio State.

He got a jumpstart on that recently when he talked with an Ohio State academic advisor.

"We didn't really go in depth," he said. "We talked about the majors they have, and there's a lot of them, and things like that. I still have to figure out the academics."

McMullen said he's interested in Ohio State, Nebraska, Oregon, Alabama, Notre Dame and a few others.

During the season he visited Nebraska and he plans to catch the Ohio State-Michigan game.

Though his junior season ended with a disappointing 4-6 record, McMullen is confident he played his best. Along with teammate LaTroy Lewis, another Ohio State recruiting target, McMullen said they made it difficult for opposing offenses to run or pass to the outside.

"I just played and did my job. I didn't worry about stats," McMullen said. "In my person opinion, as a run-stopper and pass rusher, I think I did pretty good. Nine out of 10 times the ball wasn't run my way. That says a lot. It shows how much (Lewis) and I improved."